After closure for four years and speculation as to when, or even if, it was to reopen, the Museo Nazionale Dell’Automobile Di Torino, renamed in honor of the Agnelli family, finally threw open its doors to the general public on Sunday March 20 in order to coincide with the Italian 150th celebrations of that week.
The closure has produced a total transformation of the building and its contents from mid-last century to one of the most contemporary centers of its type, with much use made of current computer graphics, as well as art.
Perhaps the most impressive, and certainly spectacular, section is the one dedicated to racing and entitled: “At Top Speed.” More than 15 racing and Grand Prix cars are lined up on a “grid” and appear to be moving as the floor flashes by and the walls seem to move—all accompanied by an appropriate background soundtrack.
Racing, however, is just one small part of a journey through the new museum that takes the visitor from the earliest days of wheeled vehicles right up the current production line of the Fiat 500 and beyond, to what might be the future of the motor car, never forgetting that Italy, and Turin in particular, has been the crucible for so many of the technological quantum leaps made during its history so far.
by Peter Collins
